Bagels and Lox
This bagel and lox spread makes for a fun, easy, and totally delicious breakfast or brunch! Put out a variety of bagels, along with plenty of cream cheese, lox, and fresh toppings, and let everyone make their own. Like my breakfast charcuterie board, this bagel board can be as simple or as extravagant as you want it to be, and it’s such a great way to put out a DIY breakfast spread for parties or guests.
Don’t tell anyone how easy this is! ☺️
This is one of those meals that feels special but comes together without much work. (The best type of meal?!)
A chewy bagel, creamy schmear, savory lox, and bright, crisp veggies? It’s everything I want in a breakfast.
🥯 Fast & easy: Ready in minutes, no cooking required. This meal is easy to pull-off without a ton of prep.
🥒 Fresh & bright: The lox and cream cheese combo hits the spot with carbs and crunchy veggies.
🌱 Elegant & elevated: Perfect for brunch spreads, I love serving this to guests.
💪 Balanced & filling: Protein-rich, filling, satisfying, and delicious!
🧅 Customizable: Add or skip toppings to fit your taste and preferences.
🍽️ Entertaining-friendly: Great for DIY bagel bars or breakfast spreads.
I you have leftover lox, try my smoked salmon dip or smoked salmon sandwich next time.
We put this spread out for friends on our charcuterie board. It was perfect for me the hostess ~ my work was done. I could enjoy our guests, the lox & bagels were attractive and satisfied everyone and all I had to do was keep the coffee brewing. Thanks Emily. –Tut
Ingredient Notes
You’ll need some fresh ingredients for this lox and bagels spread: fresh bagels, cream cheese (putting out a few varieties is nice), lox, cucumber, tomato, red onion, capers, and fresh dill.
Emily’s Tips & Tricks
- Pro tip: If you’re putting this spread out on a serving platter, start with small bowls of cream cheese and toppings, and place sliced bagels and any other toppings around bowls. Add any garnishes like fresh dill and add necessary utensils.
- Feeding kids without pressure: This is the ultimate family-style meal, put everything out and let everyone make their own perfect bagel.
- Extra topping ideas: cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, avocado, radishes, sprouts, fresh dill, capers, everything bagel seasoning.
Bagel and Lox Sandwich Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy bagels and lox spread is perfect for brunch parties! Put everything out and let everyone build their perfect bagel sandwich.
Ingredients
- 6 fresh high-quality bagels
- 12 oz. cream cheese
- 12 oz. salmon lox (cold-smoked salmon)
- fresh toppings: cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, avocado
Instructions
- Slice bagel and spread with cream cheese.
- Top with cream cheese, lox, and desired toppings.
Notes
- Nutrition facts are an estimate as calorie amounts in bagels will vary greatly. (And all calorie counts are estimates!)
- Storage: Bagels and lox are best fresh, though they’ll last a few hours if you need to take them on the go.
- Ingredient notes: Use high-quality fresh bagels for the best flavor. I highly recommend finding a great bagel spot and ordering ahead – they’re busy on weekend mornings! Lox is a cold-smoked salmon, and some stores will have many varieties of lox; others will have a limited amount. Some popular varieties are nova lox, gravlax, lox, and hot-smoked salmon (kippered salmon). You can use different cream cheese flavors. Plain cream cheese, garlic herb, and veggie work well, but most savory cream cheese flavors will be delicious. Put the spreads out in a small bowl or dish.
- Special tools: A big charcuterie board, small bowls/plates for items, and some spreaders for cream cheese work well.
- Serve with: fresh fruit, breakfast proteins like sausage or bacon, pastries, coffee, and mimosas.
Serving Suggestions
The lox and bagels can really be a full meal, but add a few of these to easily turn it into a full bagel brunch spread!
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Breakfast sausages or bacon
- Fresh fruit
- Mini muffins – mini chocolate chip muffins, mini banana muffins, or mini blueberry muffins
- Coffee – Cappuccino, latte, dirty chai, sweet cream cold foam, or a cup of coffee
FAQs
A traditional lox and cream cheese bagel consists of a bagel, cream cheese, lox, red onion, and capers. Sam’s on Sunset (our old favorite neighborhood bagel spot in LA) serves it as a platter so you can make your own and it comes with a bagel, lox, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, capers, pickles, and lemon.
Wondering how much smoked salmon per bagel? A good estimate is at least 4-6 ounces of lox per person.
New York! Lox came from Scandanavia, the lox is a Yiddish word for salmon and bagels originated in China and were refined in Italy, but putting them together was thought to happen in New York. The exact timing is unknown, but the term lox and bagels was already known in the 1950s. (Source)
About the Author
Emily Dingmann is a recipe developer, nutrition expert, and founder of My Everyday Table. She specializes in creating easy, healthy recipes that help busy parents feed their families well every single day, without the stress. With a degree in Nutrition and over 20 years of experience, Emily shares family-friendly meals that are practical, nourishing, and full of flavor. Learn more about Emily’s approach to everyday cooking and nutrition here.
Food styling and photography by Loren Runion.
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We put this spread out for friends on our charcuterie board. It was perfect for me the hostess ~ my work was done. I could enjoy our guests, the lox & bagels were attractive and satisfied everyone and all I had to do was keep the coffee brewing. Thanks Emily.
I love this recipe. So easy yet so amazing!